Volume: 59 Issue: 5
SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
driftwood.uno.edu
CAMPUS CRIME DOWN
Increased police visibility, local cooperation and new safety initiatives prove successful BY ANDREW LABORDE Driftwood Staff While it may seem like campus safety is a greater concern than ever for students, reports are actually showing a decrease in campus crime in recent years. In 2011, twelve burglaries occurred on campus, but only nine occurred in 2012 and 2013, according to the 2014 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, which can be accessed by anyone on the University Police Department website. Motor vehicle theft numbers are also down, with five thefts in 2011 and four in 2012 and 2013 combined. Dr. Brett Kemker, Vice President for Student Affairs, backed the
University of New Orleans Police Department in their efforts to keep the university safe. “I’m real proud of what Chief [Thomas] Harrington and the police have done for UNO as far as keeping it safe, and their cooperation with New Orleans PD,” Kemker said. “Also, their cooperation with the levee police, and their cooperation with SUNO police, is one of the reasons why we have such a safe campus; [it] is because you have all those organizations working together. ” Kemker emphasized the visibility of the police force as a factor in the very few armed crimes that occur on campus, and their approachability as not only protectors of the UNO community but fellow members. UNOPD officers, according
to Kemker, are strategically placed all over campus at all times. The UNOPD is organized into four platoons with five officers in each platoon, working 24 hours a day. An aspect of the visibility and approachability of the UNOPD is the Coffee with a Cop program, which began in 2013 as a way for current and potential students, as well as parents, to spend time with the officers. It is an informal event where the UNO community can interact in a friendly atmosphere with the police force. While Kemker acknowledges that Privateer Place has had problems with crime in the past, he intends to transform it into a safer place for everyone. “The problem [with crime in Privateer Place] seems to arise not from our stu-
dents, but from other people living in Privateer Place,” said Kemker. The UNO community may remember the lockdown last January where a man involved in a car chase with NOPD officers crashed and abandoned his vehicle on campus and was later apprehended in Pontchartrain Hall North. Following that incident, Student Housing has held an active shooter seminar every semester hosted by the FBI. Mike Brauninger, the Director of Student Housing, said the program is geared toward helping the staff of Student Housing and Privateer Place to assist and direct the residents and students in case of such a situation. “We have 58 cameras throughout the hall, both parking lots, all public areas have cameras on them.
The state-of-the-art video system is monitored at both front desks. I monitor it, and campus police monitor it,” said Brauninger in regard to safety in the dorms. Students should be aware of the option of an escort from a police officer when they feel the need for one, especially at night. Other safety tips from the UNOPD include registering your bicycle, attending a self-defense class which is taught by UNOPD, and traveling in groups at unsafe times of the night. At orientation for incoming students living in the dorms, Brauninger hosts a presentation on safety, which informs parents and students of safety protocol in the dorms. The UNOPD can be reached at 504-280-6666.
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
EDITORIAL Students reminded: Awareness and common sense key to remaining safe on campus On today’s front-page, we shed light on how crime on campus is decreasing. Despite these reports, students should not use this information as a reason to let their guards down. For those of us who have lived in New Orleans, we know the dangers of this city. We know the crime rate, which saw its highest point in 1993 with a 20.3 murder rate for every 100,000 citizens. This has earned us the shameful title of the “murder capital.” Despite the reports that crime has declined over the past four years, it’s hard to ignore the fact that we hit 100 murders 55 days sooner than last year. You have to always be conscious of your surroundings and keep yourself in the safest situations. Campus police are here, but they aren’t a constant set of eyes watching every step and ensuring your safety. The same applies to the New Orleans Police. If you are unfamiliar with a certain area, it’s best to do some background information and learn about the safety levels. We all love the Bywater, it’s unique, artsy and embodies some qualities people love about New Orleans, but you need to know about the man and woman who were robbed at gunpoint back in April in the same neighborhood. You need to know that there has been a constant concern of crime in the area, and you need to be prepared. Utilize the buddy system and stay in populated areas. When it gets too late the streets can sometimes become vacant of people depending where you are. Having a few friends with you will help keep you safe and also make you feel safer. Staying in populated areas is probably the best way to ensure your safety. When the streets begin to clear then you might want to consider simply going home or to another area with more people. If you do find yourself in a sketchy situation with no one beside you, utilize the technology inventors and your mom or dad have given you. Call a friend and ask them to stay on the phone until you get to your car or home safely. This will ensure that someone knows where you are and they will know if something happens. Also, the mobile application Companion is a good app to download. Companion can let your friends walk you home virtually through the app, and if you ever feel unsafe you can call the police through the app. From phone calls, to real friends, to virtual friends, use anything you can to protect yourself and stay safe. Yes, New Orleans is a great city with entertainment and nightlife on just about every corner. Not being blinded by the exciting things in the city will help keep your head on a swivel to ensure every night ends on a good note.
OPINION
COLUMN Student searches for perfect study spot BY CHLOE GAGNON
News Editor
Whether students want to believe it or not, the most important aspect of college is studying one’s butt off to earn a degree. If anyone is like me, I like to find the one place on campus that is my perfect study spot; the one place no one knows about with no one around to bother me. Those moments when I have a ton of homework to get done and I’m super stressed, I go to my study spot and it feels like everything is right in the world. I can get so much work done and it’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Everyone knows what I’m talking about because everyone has those moments when he or she forgot to write that paper, is behind on his or her reading, or has more math problems to do than they can count. There are several obvious places where one would go to study such as the library or one’s dorm room; however, there can be problems with those spaces. If your roommates are being loud, it can be distracting. If they have friends over,
do you have rules set for when you need to study? The library can also be flawed when one needs to cram. There are times when there are so many people around that one can’t find a table. Study carrels can be cold, cramped, and coffin-like. There is also the issue of the library not open past 11pm. What does one do if their roommates are being loud
and the library is closed? My ideal study space, I cannot reveal because then, it would not be mine anymore. I will tell you that it is where no one is around me. I have complete silence so that I could hear a pin drop. Nothing around me is distracting so that I have complete focus. If anyone has seen “Gilmore Girls,” he or she will know what
I’m talking about when I say, ‘my ideal study spot.’ When Rory Gilmore is attending school at Yale University in season 4 episode 6, she tries to find a spot to study when she needs to play catch-up with homework. She is overwhelmed by massive amounts of reading and studying to do but she can’t find the right vibe. Her dorm roommates chose to be loud and rambunctious, each with a different problem. She tries to go home but her room is overrun by tarts from her mother’s catering company. She returns to school and finds the perfect spot: a tree in which she describes as: “It fits my back completely, and there’s plenty of grass. It’s in a great area—just far enough away from anything major so there’s not a lot of noise but still not in Siberia.” Each student has his/her own way of studying and it probably does not suit everyone to be in a quiet area like me. Students who struggle with studying need to find their own niche, their own study habits. When one finds their spot, he or she will know. I can almost hear angels singing hallelujah when I walk into mine.
STAFF Nigel Washington Editor-in-Chief driftwoodeditor@uno.edu
Traven Stout Photo Editor tstout@uno.edu
Mia Lett Reporter mlett@uno.edu
Charles Nicholson Managing Editor driftwood@uno.edu
Lili Harrison Advertising Manager driftwoodads@uno.edu
Tishawn MItchell Reporter tratcliff@uno.edu
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Lindsay Alexander Illustrator lralexa1@uno.edu
Chloe Gagnon News Editor cprange@uno.edu
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Driftwood is the student run newspaper of the University of New Orleans. We publish every Wednesday with the exception of mid-term and finals weeks and official holiday breaks. 2000 Lakeshore Drive University Center 252 New Orleans, LA 70148 Phone: (504) 280-6377 Fax: (504) 280-6010 Ad sales inquiries should be directed to driftwoodads@uno.edu
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
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Academic scholarly historical journal comes to UNO BY CHLOE GAGNON
News Editor
The Journal of African American History has come to UNO for at least the next three years under the supervision of Editor V. P. Franklin. Franklin has been editor of the journal since 2002 and was previously a professor and writer. He has taught all over the country, in other countries such as Spain and Sweden, and has written over ten books. He has graduated from Penn State, Harvard University and University of Chicago. The journal, founded in 1915, is celebrating its 100th anniversary. “It’s the third oldest of the interna-
tionally scholarly historical journals in the United States . . .It’s still a leading journal in the country,” said Franklin. “The journal publishes things on people of African descent in different parts of the world but focuses on its connections with the United States,” said Franklin. When the journal first started, “it was more interested in dispelling inaccuracies and untruths about the people of African descent,” explained Franklin. He went on to say that currently he is more interested in providing “documentation for people who are interested in improving the political, social and economic conditions of people of African descent in the United
States.” Franklin was teaching at Columbia University in 2002 when the journal asked him to become editor. He signed a contract with Dillard University in New Orleans in Aug. 2005. He stayed at Dillard for two years before accepting a job offer at the University of California Riverside. He retired in July 2015 from UC. “When I retired in July, I then said I want to come back to New Orleans for good and contacted Professor (Robert) Dupont, and Prof. Dupont said that the University of New Orleans Department of History would be interested in serving as the new host institution for the journal,” said Franklin.
“I’m happy to be at UNO and I hope that this is something that people at UNO will know about, and that they’ll take pride that the journal is here.” Since becoming editor, Franklin has made two very important changes. First, he renamed the journal from The Journal of Negro History to the Journal of African American History. Second, because the journal is published quarterly, he implemented a change of the kinds of journals published. “Normally, what I try to do is have, of the four issues that are published, two [that] are special issues, and two [that] are regular.” The journal used to only publish a special issue once every ten years
or so. Each issue of the journal contains four articles along with essays and book reviews. Anyone is able to submit an article for review to the journal. Franklin explained, “We get about between 100-130 manuscripts submitted each year; They are peer reviewed. [Then] they are sent out by the editorial board and other scholars in the field.” Of all his accomplishments, Franklin considers himself first and foremost an educator. “For me, the most joy was associated with teaching. I taught every grade so that has been the most rewarding... The most important [achievement] would probably be the journal.”
MAN ON THE STREET
Do you ever feel unsafe on campus, why or why not?
GABRIELLE WILLIAMS Sophomore, Pre-Veterinarian
XAVIER REED Junior, Jazz
BRANDON TAVORMINA Freshman, Psychology
RACHEL GEISZ Freshman, Studio Art
BRADLY MAGGIO Freshman, N.A.M.E.
I feel very safe on campus. I normally am out around the wee hours of the morning and the only thing that scares me are the cockroaches.
I mean, relatively speaking, yes I do feel pretty safe most places. I’ve heard about a lot of terrible things about Privateer Place, though. People getting robbed at gunpoint and the crime not being investigated; pretty crooked, huh? I’ll stay in my dorm room. Stay classy folks.
The campus definitely feels like a safe environment. I always see police cruisers patrolling, and that makes me feel safer than I did in high school. Keep it up!
I feel safe on campus. Naturally, I prefer not to walk alone at night, but that’s more of a personal thing than anything on the school. Honestly, I feel safe around campus.
UNO has an environment which I feel safe in for a few reasons. The dorms, where I live are strict about outside guests. Also, there are campus police constantly driving around campus.
Photos by Grant Campbell
CRIME SCENE DO NOT
CROSS CRIME SCENE
• On Sept. 8, a resident of North Pontchartrain Dormitory was summoned on a battery charge for striking a victim after a disturbance. The charge was cleared and the victim received minor injuries.
Compliled by Chloe Gagnon
CAMPUS CALENDAR Rent-A-Puppy
Students can pay a $3 fee for 15 minutes in the Quad with a rescue or shelter dog, Sept. 23.
Snow Cone Fundraiser
in the Quad on Sept. 26 at 9am! Prizes will also be awarded for the team with best costumes.
“The Misanthrope”
Have a snow cone with the Pre-Dental Society Sept. 24-27 in the Earl K. Long Library Breezeway!
The UNO theatre production continues this weekend in the Performing Arts Center at 7:30pm, Sept. 24-27.
Swampball
Paper Lantern Night
Teams can register to come and play mud volleyball
Enjoy traditional foods and beverages with cultural entertainment with the Vietnamese-American Stu-
dent Association on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 6:30pm.
Grocery Bingo
Participate in bingo to win free groceries Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 6pm at The Cove. Sponsored by SIL and Commuters United.
Yeah, You Write!
Come see UNO Students read their original creative writing Thursday Sept. 24 at 6pm in The Cove.
PBSU Fashion Show
The Progressive Black Student Union will host a fall fashion show in the UC Ballroom, featuring 7 designers and 4 performers, including the UNO Starlettes. The event is free for UNO students with ID and $5 for other guests. Doors will open at 7pm, Friday, Sept. 25.
Wake Up Wednesday
Have free coffee and doughnuts in the Student Success Center Saturday Sept. 26th at 9am.
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
NEWS
Beaton earns Career Research Prize Professors win grants BY TISHAWN MITCHELL
Driftwood Staff
Dr. Elliott A. Beaton, associate professor of Psychology, was recently awarded a 2015 UNO Early Career Research Prize worth $7,500 in recognition of studies made in his field. Beaton, who has been at UNO since 2012, is also the director of the Stress, Cognition and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Laboratory. “I was very, very happy to get the award because one of the reasons I came to New Orleans and came to UNO is because of the research focus here,” Beaton said. “There’s lots of productivity, lots of research going on here, that gives students a good opportunity to train,” Beaton continued. “And it gives me an opportunity to work with future scientists, so that’s very exciting,” Directing a lab, while rewarding, doesn’t come without its share of challenges. “A lot of folks don’t know this, but It’s almost like running your own business, because you have to pay salaries and you have to pay for equipment [and] supplies,” Beaton said. Over the years, Beaton and his team have been able to secure more than $910,000 in grant funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Louisiana Board of Regents, and the University of Maryland, among others. UNO also receives a portion of every grant awarded, which goes towards its operating costs. “Writing grants is addictive,” Beaton said. “If you’re successful once or twice, it’s like gambling. We have several grants out right now. There’s one that’s worth almost 3.4 million dollars that, hopefully, fingers crossed, knock on wood, we’ll get.” In addition to keeping staff paid, supplies stocked, and the lights on, grant funding helps support the research that Beaton’s SCAN lab is conducting on stress in children with 22Q11.2 deletion syndrome and its possible link to schizophre-
nia. “22Q11.2 is a relatively uncommon chromosomal deletion that happens on one chromosome from either [the] mom or dad,” Beaton explained. “Most of the time there’s no family history [of it]. What it does is cause major medical problems early in life, like heart malformations and cleft palate. There also may be delayed sitting, walking and language – pretty challenging medical things.” The reason Beaton and his team study this particular group of kids is that 25-30 percent of them will go on to get schizophrenia in adulthood, as opposed to only 1 to 1½ percent of the general population. Stress, of course, is not the only cause of schizophrenia. “If stress caused schizophrenia, then we’d all have it,” Beaton said. “But for certain children, is [stress] that thing that pushes them that extra little bit?” In order to find an answer to this question, Beaton and his team fly children with 22Q11.2 deletion syndrome to UNO fro all over North America. The children range from ages 7 to 14. “They come to visit New Orleans, we put them up in a hotel for a couple of days and we bring them to UNO and we test them, [and for some of the tests] their parents, too. We know that stressed-out moms and stressed-out kids, when they get together, make each other even more stressed out,” said Beaton. According to Beaton, the families love coming to New Orleans. It’s a big draw. Once on campus, the parents and children are given detailed psychological tests in which they write down their feelings and emotions. “In terms of child psychology,” Beaton said, “we think: What’s their environment? Where do they live? What’s their access to medical care? The school, their friends, the peers, what are they like?” Other aspects of the visit, however, are much more technology-based than what one may initially consider “traditional” psy-
chological evaluations to be. In addition to written evaluations, the kids are assessed by technology. They play custom-made computer games that test their memory and their ability to detect threats in stressful situations. They are also taken to Touro Infirmary for magnetic resonance imaging, or MRIs, to obtain images of their brains. The procedure is safe, but if the children are nervous they can always visit a mock MRI machine on campus to get accustomed to how a real one works. “Afterwards,” Beaton said, “We say, ‘Okay kids, now you’re getting your blood drawn.’ We tell them that to intentionally stress them out.” The blood samples, which measure how the kids’ immune systems are responding to this stressor, are analyzed in SCAN’s lab and stored in its very own blood bank. The idea behind these tests is that once the children return to UNO for a follow-up visit a few years later, Beaton and his team will be able to study how their brains have changed. “When you’re trying to understand the origins of schizophrenia, why it happens and potentially how to prevent it, one way to do it is to try to find a whole bunch of patients who already have it and try to figure out what went on in the past, but sometimes that’s tricky,” Beaton said. What they can do with this group of at-risk kids, according to Beaton, is follow them as they grow up and, perhaps, prevent the disorder before it has the chance to even occur. “Say that we’re completely wrong, and stress has nothing to do with the development of schizophrenia in these kids. We can still try to tailor interventions that make their lives better now. If they don’t get schizophrenia, that’s great. Nobody wants that to happen. If that [outcome] is related to our interventions that we helped develop, then we won, anyway.”
Funds for Driftwood media request denied BY SHAYLA STALEY
Driftwood Staff
The Student Government Association voted on several bills and a few changes were made to the code of laws within the Constitution at the meeting on September 18. Prior to voting on other issues, President Joy Ballard, focused on the matter of additional fees the university is proposing on the grounds of “student success” and “academic retention.” The fees would add $264 per semester to each student’s current fees. Ballard’s main concern was UNO’s ability to put forth this fee bill with little to no transparency as how the money will be spent. The following proposals were voted on at the meeting: • The vote was unanimous to approve the SGA recruitment event.
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In another unanimous vote, the SGA voted to fund the Interdisciplinary Studies Gala, an event created to celebrate the 40th anniversary of IDS. • Driftwood was unable to get enough votes to purchase film equipment to create news videos to run on its web page. Staff members said that the equipment would be the best quality for the best price and was very basic and necessary for filming. The SGA members questioned why they couldn’t share with UNOtube, who also uses filming equipment. The Driftwood countered that scheduling was difficult to work out and they needed equipment that was more mobile than UNOtube’s. Ultimately, the bill wasn’t passed with a vote of 3/12,
because the Senate was unsure if the endeavor would pay off and the funds were too high risk. • In another unanimous vote, Swampball requested funds to pay for food and for facility services to dig out the pits for the game. • A bill was proposed to allow IDS to purchase new furniture for their lounge. The bill had already been passed last semester, but funds then didn’t allow for it. The bill was proposed again this semester, and passed with a 12/12 vote The meeting shifted in focus geared towards changes in SGA’s rules and procedures in the SGA’s Constitution and Code of Laws regarding the process of bills. Vice President Lambert was nominated to the Rules Committee and was voted-in unanimously.
Dr. Matthew Tarr
Dr. Matthew Tarr, professor of chemistry, was recently awarded the 2015 UNO Research Excellence prize for his long-standing record of leading various academic activities in his department. Among other ventures, Tarr, who has been a part of UNO’s faculty since 1995, ran a summer research program at UNO for three years. “I was honored to be selected (for the prize), and proud of the achievements of my research group and anyone who contributed to those achievements,” Tarr said. He plans to use the $10,000 grant to further his research projects involving the studies of environmental chemistry and nano materials for anti-cancer drug therapy. He intends to eventually make what he and his team finds public. “By publishing additional research results in these fields,” Tarr said, “My research program, the Department of Chemistry, and UNO will gain better national and international recognition.”
Dr. Mahdi Abdelguerfi
Dr. Mahdi Abdelguerfi, Computer Science department chair, is the recipient of the UNO 2015 Competitive Funding prize for his work in securing the highest amount of outside funding of awards for his department in the last fiscal year. Abdelguerfi, who has been a UNO faculty member since 1989, will receive an $10,000 in grant money in addition to the $840,000 in grants that he and his department have already acquired. When Abdelguerfi found out that he had won the Competitive Funding prize, he was pleasantly surprised. “I was not even aware that such an award existed,” he said. As far as how he will use the grant money to aid UNO’s Computer Science department, Abdelguerfi said that he will hire more students to help with his on-going research projects.
Breakfast with Alpha Xis
Autism Speaks Another Broken Egg Cafe
FEATURES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
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UNO professor digs into New Orleans’ past BY ZACHARY LETO
Driftwood Contributor
Waist-deep in a nineteenth century French Quarter cesspit, surrounded by shards of pottery and melting under the New Orleans summer sun, is a bit of heaven on Earth for Dr. Ryan Gray. Gray, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of New Orleans, spearheaded the archaeological dig at 810 Royal St. in the heart of the French Quarter this past summer as part of the department’s archaeological field school program. “UNO, at one time through the seventies into the eighties, offered a field school pretty regularly and did significant work at the famous prehistoric sites of the Big and Little Oak Islands out in New Orleans East,” Dr. Gray said, “but as people retired and got older, there just wasn’t anyone who could offer it that regularly. So when I came here, one of my goals was to start making it a regular offer again.” The program has been revitalized since Gray came onto the scene at UNO in 2012, culminating in this past summer’s work at the French Quarter site. Gray says it has been the most interesting site to date. “The building that was there collapsed. It was built in or around 1801, and what we found is that because the building was in the same place for so long, it preserved the earlier things on that lot really well,” Gray said. The discoveries have been exciting to those working the site; they range from Native American pottery to more intricate ceramic pieces of the affluent families who once inhabited the space. Gray said, “We see a lot of evidence for the Americanization of New Orleans even before the Louisiana Purchase has taken place. There is a shift from earlier continental European styles of dining to these other things that we can always think of as propaganda paving the way for this larger political shift in the city.” Gray received his undergraduate
education at Columbia University in New York and initially focused his attention on Mayan writing. Following graduation, he made his way to Latin America doing fieldwork in Belize and Guatemala, but quickly realized there weren’t paying jobs in Latin America with only an undergraduate degree. “I moved to New Orleans to be closer to Central America,” Gray said. “But I got a job doing archaeology for a private firm here in the city, for a company called Earth Search, and I started working on historic sites in Louisiana and around the southeast. In particular, I did work in a lot of sites in New Orleans and I fell in love with New Orleans archaeology.” After ten years working in the private sector, Gray decided to back to school. “That’s when I went to the University of Chicago,” Gray said. “What inspired me to go back to school was actually hoping to come to UNO to teach. I had always had this idea that I would end up here and be able to kind of rebuild the archaeology program because at one time it had been very active.” The program has been successful since Gray has taken a leading role in it, and he has been vocal about student involvement. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but he insists that anyone willing to face the heat and get their hands dirty is encouraged to join if the city’s history piques their interest. He constantly pressed the idea of non-anthropology majors being involved. One of the perks is that it is never overcrowded. The number of participants has fluctuated over the past few years -- from six students up to ten students this past year, which is ideal for the precise excavations taking place. The location of the Royal St. site was something of a tourist attraction this summer. Gray said that hundreds of passers-by would stop daily to take pictures and ask questions. The site even got some air time on WGNO’s “News with a Twist.” The segment ended with a selfie of all the field school par-
ticipants. “[The 810 Royal St. site] represents more of what we want to do with the field school in the future,” Gray said. “To have students who do the field school and get to interact with the public, tell them about what they are doing, and have it be a truly public archaeology program for the city.” In his first year back after receiving his doctorate, Gray focused the field school on a spiritual church in the Lower Ninth Ward with Juana Ibanez, a fellow anthropology instructor at UNO. The following three years of field school were located at the site of the Iberville housing projects in Mid-City. With the help of Andrea White, the Greater New Orleans Regional Archaeologist, Dr. Gray began to dig into the history of the site that was formerly known as Storyville. Storyville was the city’s redlight district in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. “With the archeology of Storyville, we have this thing that is not that old – it’s 1898 to 1917 when it was there – and yet there is surprisingly little that actually tells us in the written record about the daily lives of the women who worked there,” Gray said. “The city went so far as to select that place for the location of the Iberville housing project, so they essentially tried to erase the architectural record of this whole segment of the city as a way of silencing that whole part of history.” Restoring these intentionally-forgotten pieces of history is one of Dr. Gray’s goals, not only in his work but in his life. “For me, it is the degree to which we can see the ways New Orleans has always been this crossroads,” Gray said. Citing the proposed building of fortifications in the eighteenth century and boundaries of legal segregation in the following centuries, Dr. Gray said that “the interesting thing about the archaeology of New Orleans is we can see how these boundaries were always more permeable than they were
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Dr. Ryan Gray regularly offers field study to students at UNO. Photo by Tracie Morris Schaefer
really meant to be. Even though different authorities tried to police social difference, we can see in the record on the ground how people defied those boundaries. To me, that’s the one theme that unites all the work that we do in the city.” Cultural permeability has always been essential in New Orleans’ unique culture, and considering the current state of race relations in the United States, the city’s place in that is as central as ever. These are the elements that Dr. Gray is hoping will attract students to be a part of field schools in the future. He aims to give voices to those buried and silenced by time. “We want to use the archaeology
as a springboard to think about other issues in how the city came to be the way it is today. The history of race, the history of ethnicity, the history of slavery and how history, when it’s written down, tends to privilege certain narratives and exclude others,”Gray said. The opportunity awaits students who might be willing to get a little messy, and if anyone needs that last bit of encouragement to take the plunge, remember the immortal words of Joe Dirt: “Life’s a garden: dig it.”
See more photos on page 6 and 7
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
FEATURES
ANTHRO STUDENTS GET H
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Dr. Ryan Gray spearheaded the archaeological dig at 810 Royal St. in the heart of the French Quarter this past summer as part of the department’s archaeological field school program.
FEATURES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
7
HANDS DIRTY IN THE FIELD
Photos by Tracie Morris Schaefer
Student Legal Services
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
ENTERTAINMENT
“Game of Thrones” writers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff receive the Outstanding Drama Series Award at the 67TH PRIMETIME EMMY® AWARDS in Los Angeles, CA.
Photo courtesy of Michael Becker/FOX
HBO dominates at the 67TH PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS with 43 wins including “Game of Thrones,” “Olive Kitteridge” & “Veep” BY CHARLES NICHOLSON
Managing Editor
The 67th Primetime Emmy’s have come and gone. Another year of snubs, surprises and statuettes have declared who mattered and who didn’t in television this past year. Hosted by former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, Andy Samberg, the three-hour event, though entertaining, was relatively tame in terms of award show performances. Samberg, a normally humorous act, was surprisingly stale. While his parody skits (like the opening musical where he dreads upon not having caught up on countless shows) were amusing, his stand-up jokes fell flat. The show was also heavy on social and political issues (there must be some unspoken rule regarding talking about Donald Trump in everything),
which were fine at times and awkward at others. Along with the heartfelt ‘In Memoriam’ dedicating TV’s lost legends of the past year, such as Leonard Nimoy and Wes Craven, another group was remembered at the Emmy’s. With no warning, a montage of shows that recently ended displayed the most spoilery of scenes of those shows as a grand send-off (sorry to those who haven’t finished their viewing). As I pondered at the end of the show, I felt something very important missing: a musical performance. According to the Rolling Stone, the alternative rock band, Foo Fighters, were scheduled to play, but the band said that FOX cancelled their performance for an unknown reason. Now, onto the meat of it: the awards. “Olive Kitteridge,” HBO’s new mini-series, cleared the Limited Series category with nine nomi-
nations and seven wins, including Outstanding Mini-series and only missing out on Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie and Outstanding Costumes for a Contemporary Series, Limited Series or Movie. In the Variety category, Outstanding Variety Sketch Series was given to “Inside Amy Schumer,” while Jon Stewart was given his true final goodbye as The Daily Show walked off with awards for Outstanding Variety Talk Series, Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series and Outstanding Directing For A Variety Series. Comedy series, “Veep,” managed nine nominations with five wins, including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Tony Hale) and Outstanding Comedy Series. “Transparent” won five of their ten nominations including
Viola Davis accepts the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Award for “How to Get Away With Murder” at the 67TH PRIMETIME EMMY® AWARDS. Photo courtesy of Michael Becker/FOX
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Jeffrey Tambor) and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Jill Soloway). The most disappointingly was that NBC acclaimed series, “Parks and Recreation,” missed out on its last chance for an Emmy after seven great seasons. The Drama category had some interesting toss-ups this year. “Orange is the New Black,” which had been recategorized from comedy to drama, won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Uzo Aduba). “House of Cards” and “The Americans” won for Outstanding Guest Actor (Reg E. Cathey) and Outstanding Guest Actress (Margo Martindale) respectively. Recently concluded series “Mad Men” got eight nominations but was only granted an award for Lead Actor (Jon Hamm). “How to Get Away with Murder” won its first Emmy for Outstanding
Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Viola Davis). Davis’ speech was most noteworthy of all as she poured her heart out about the circumstances of black women in entertainment. “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there,” said Davis. Tracy Morgan returned to TV after his unfortunate accident with an emotional yet funny speech to present the final award of the night, Outstanding Drama Series. HBO’s juggernaut fantasy drama, “Game of Thrones,” broke Emmy records sweeping 12 Emmy’s, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Peter Dinklage), Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (David Nutter) and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (David Benioff & D.B. Weiss).
Tracy Morgan speaks onstage at the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Award at the 67TH PRIMETIME EMMY® AWARDS Photo courtesy of Michael Becker/FOX
ENTERTAINMENT
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
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Play Review: “Errata” BY SHAY CHANDLER
Driftwood Contributor
“Errata,” written by Michael Allen Zell and directed by Angela Jo Strohm, is currently running at the Old Marquer Theater as part of Lux Et Umbra’s Page to Stage festival. In publishing, errata are corrections of a text, and the title of the play sums up the plot, as Raymond Russell (Mark Bryan) attempts to explain the truths behind a violent murder he witnessed in a crime-ridden New Orleans. The set for “Errata” is sparse and unappealing. Crumpled papers litter a small room. A lone bed sits in the corner, with a stack of books, a clock, and a lamp balanced on top. Opposite these sits a desk beneath more piled volumes and a dirty mirror. Perhaps this is a hint of something gritty to come, yet there is not much of interest in the opening sequences. The audience is immediately startled by the sound of gunfire, but they are soon lulled into ennui. “Errata” is mostly reclusive, illegal taxi driver Raymond Russell, pacing and talking to himself inside his small apartment. He is collecting his memories of a past tragedy by writing a daily journal for twenty-two days, resulting in a giant,
almost incessant soliloquy, full of insubstantial ranting. Occasionally he drinks from a mug -- or picks up a book, at one point throwing one across the room. But apart from his mad ravings, more erratic than errata, the play has no motion. What’s interesting is behind the bedroom set. Ceiling-hung sheets divide Raymond’s room from the rest of the world. Lighting sets the mood of the theme, used to portray images from his memory: here is the sparse story. Behind the sheets, we meet Eve (Samantha Mullen), Raymond’s first love who died of heart failure many years ago; Hanna Spire (also Samantha Mullen), Raymond’s new love interest whom he met in the backseat of his cab; and The Pelican (Matthew Rigdon), a murderous police officer. The concept is interesting, and the red-to-yellow mood-lighting is fun to watch, but the audience is bored as Raymond never truly interacts with another character. In some plays, this could be an endearing storytelling device; in this one, it’s tedious. Every scene is a flashback frantically scribed into Raymond’s journal, punctuated by hard-to-follow dialogue lost in an overflow of random, unimportant literary references. “Errata” takes an interesting
concept -- following the scrambled mind of someone dealing with the aftermath of a traumatic experience -- and makes it wearisome and exhausting. The performers should get kudos for memorizing their never-ending lines. This play might have been more captivating if it did not make twenty-two days feel like a year. Its hour-and-a-half run time felt like forever, counting down until the plot is fully revealed. I expected to be more impressed. The Old Marquer Theater is one of my favorite venues; its small size usually holds performances that throw a huge theatrical punch. But “Errata” was starved for action and drowned in needless musings from a lackluster character; it felt more like “The Raymond Russell Show” than a stage play. However, I would not write off Lux Et Umbra’s Page to Stage festival. The respect I have for The Old Marquer Theater entreats me to recommend to you the festival’s other two featured plays: “Paper Airplanes” by Salvatore Mannino and “Vivarium” by Logan Faust. The Page to Stage festival is running until Sept. 20, and although “Errata” may have fallen short of entertaining, these other two plays may have exactly what it was missing.
Play graphic of Errata by Michael Allen Zell
Photo courtesy of Michael Allen Zell
STAFF PICKS
Courtesy of Capoeira New Orleans
Courtesy of Freebie, LLC
Courtesy of UMG
Anyone looking for a new way to work out should check out NOLA Capoeira located on North Broad. Capoeira is a Brazilian African-based Martial Art, combining music and dance that ends up looking more like a game than a competition. No wonder, since you in fact ‘play Capoeira’, not fight Capoeira. The art form evolved from the Slave Trade in Brazil in the sixteenth century. The slaves would disguise their movements of kicking, dodging and blocking as a dance to their slave masters. Nola Capoeira is run by Mestrando Cocado and his wife Rosa. When you walk into the place you instantly feel the vibrant energy that exudes out of the instructors and their students. You’ll see two capoeiristas in the center of a group circle (a roda) moving in a circular flowing motion, performing highly athletic movements reminiscent of breakdancing. And don’t be intimidated by all the acrobatics. The teachers work with you, and before you know it you’re doing cartwheels and handstands like a gymnast. It’s awesome. They offer weekly beginner classes, children’s classes and music classes. And the best thing about it is the first class is free!
Fellow New Orleanian Mark Duplass stars in the romantic comedy and psychological thriller with Elisabeth Moss, who starred on AMC’s Mad Men. In this independently-produced film, Duplass and Moss are a struggling married couple who take a weekend retreat based on their therapist’s recommendation. The grounds of the “romantic comedy” have been covered with their struggling marriage, but the “psychological thriller” aspect reels you in and makes you scratch your head. Ethan and Sophie’s beautiful weekend getaway drives them to find each other, but they will literally find each other as each possesses a doppleganger or lookalike that is more charming and attractive than the real one. Confusion and intrigue ensues for Ethan and Sophie as their trust is put to the test in this 2014 film which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning artist Zedd is bringing his True Colors Tour to New Orleans on Monday, September 28 at Champions Square. Zedd will be performing his highly-anticipated second album, which was co-written and executive-produced by Zedd himself. True Colors’ first single “I Want You To Know,” featuring Selena Gomez, spent four weeks as the number one song on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. The weather for the outside venue shows showers and so long as they stay light, this could be one of the most exciting concerts of the year for EDM lovers in New Orleans. This show will also feature Madeon and Alex Metric as opening artists.
-MIA LETT
-ANDREW LABORDE
-ZACHARY C. GUNTNER
Courtesy of UMG For the past five years, I have been on an unofficial, one-woman crusade of sorts: to make pop artist Robyn as big a deal here as she is in her home country of Sweden. Mainstream-success wise, Robyn is no Katy Perry or Madonna, but she’s toured with both of them. Her most recent solo effort, a threepart series of albums entitled Body Talk, was released in June, September and November of 2010. That’s right; all three albums were released within six months of each other, a feat I have yet to see any other artist, pop or otherwise, pull off. Overall, the Body Talk series is a fantastic set of albums. Some may be familiar with the often-covered song “Dancing on My Own” even if they don’t know that she sang it first. “Get Myself Together” addresses personal rebuilding after finding herself in a “mess” that she admittedly caused- she never says what that mess is, but I have fun guessing. I don’t expect anyone who hasn’t heard of Robyn to go out and blindly buy her musictimes are too hard for that- but Google her. Stream a few songs. You’ll be nodding your head in no time. And hopefully, you won’t wrinkle your nose. -TISHAWN MITCHELL
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
LAGNIAPPE
Illustrated by Lindsay Alexander
PRIVATEER POOP
Illustrated by Barrington Hebert
sudoku
word search
ARCHEAOLOGY CAPOEIRA CRIME EMMY ERRATA Answers will be published online on Friday via our Instagram account: UNODriftwood
GRAMBLING GRANT HEAT JOURNAL PSYCHOLOGY
PUN ROBYN SAFETY TENNIS THRILLER
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
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FROM THE CROW’S NEST MEN’S TENNIS
The men’s team spent the weekend competing at the University of Southern Mississippi Fall Invitational. The Privateers faced opponents from South Alabama, Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), and Southern Miss in singles and doubles competition. Highlights of the weekend’s action included freshman Karim Shokeir winning his first collegiate match. Shokeir took the first set 7-5 and won the second set in a tiebreak at 7-6. The Privateer’s sophomore Giacomo Adoncecchi also left Hattiesburg with a victory dominated in his match going onto a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Redshirt freshman Keke Irby sends a spike to Grambling State University. The Privateers cap off an undefeated weekend.
Photo by Ron O’Rourke | UNO Athletics
Lady Privateers surpass last seasons record after perfect weekend at Human Performance Center BY NIGEL WASHINGTON
Editor-in-Chief
The UNO women’s volleyball team surpassed last year’s win total after this weekends 2-0 outing against Tennessee State and Grambling at the HPC. UNO (8-5) lost only one set for the entire weekend against Tennessee State (5-6) after taking the first two sets in dominant fashion as the Privateers held leads for the entirety of both sets.
The roles began to reverse in the third set when the Tigers got off to an early 5-2 score. After UNO fought back to tie the game at 19, the Tigers scored six unanswered points to finish the set. In the early stages of the fourth set, both squads battled for momentum as the lead would change three times with five ties before stopping at a 5-5 score. The Privateers pulled away soon afterwards as they scored 10 unanswered points and controlled the remainder of the set to a 25-13 fin-
ish. UNO had no intentions of slowing down against Grambling University (2-9) and made quick work of the Lady Tigers en route to a 3-0 sweep. After cruising to 25-9 victory in the first two sets, the Lady Privateers continued to assert their dominance and the final set. Grambling was able to keep it close with a 10-7 score, but a monstrous 10-1 run put an abrupt end to any chance of the Lady Tigers forcing a fourth set as UNO won
the set and the weekend with a 2516 score. As a team UNO racked up 91 kills on 82 assists and a .298 hitting percentage. Freshman Samantha Uline recorded a team-high 18 kills during the weekend. The Lady Privateers will get their first look against a conference opponent tomorrow on the first leg of a five game road trip as they travel to Houston with a matchup against the Houston Baptist Huskies (7-7). First serve is scheduled for 7pm.
At the Warhawk Fall Tennis Tournament, hosted by the University of Louisiana-Monroe, the women’s team came home with a handful of wins. Freshman Trang Dao made it to the finals of the back draw in Flight 2 singles after losing her opening match in the main draw. Dao won a three-set match over South Alabama’s Paula Sanchez (6-1, 2-6, 6-1), then defeated Northwestern State’s Alzbeta Veverkova (6-2, 6-3). \In Flight 3, singles Senior Hafsa Laraibi won two matches: the first against Louisiana Tech’s Haley Ballinger in three sets, and the second against Claudia Castella of Southern Mississippi.
CROSS COUNTRY
The Men’s Cross Country team finished in second place in back-to-back weekends after competing in the LSU invitational on Saturday. Junior Jared Robertson placed eighth overall in the competition and was the top finisher for the Privateers with his time of 16:00.68. The women’s team finished eighth overall. COMPILED BY ZACHARY C. GUNTNER
SGA MEETINGS 2015
Every other Friday, 2:00pm Starting September 18
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Room 208, 2nd Floor of the UC Come visit us and see what the Student Government Association is all about! /UNOSGA
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